


would you be so kind

by clemsteroonie, svttv



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Drug Use, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Sexual References, Slow Burn, bisexual disaster clementine, they're all 18 but they're still in high school so, theyre all baby
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-13
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-01-12 10:27:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18444677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clemsteroonie/pseuds/clemsteroonie, https://archiveofourown.org/users/svttv/pseuds/svttv
Summary: In which Clem moves to a new school and is introduced to new people. One of which, catches her attention way more than she intends.





	1. Chapter 1

Clementine slumped her backpack against her locker, putting in the combination as it opened with a click. She threw her books into her locker, keeping her math book handy,

‘Do I _really_ need this many books for my first day?’ She thought to herself.

She shut her locker, picking her bag up as she headed for her first class, math. (Not that she actually knew where math was)

The halls were filled to the brim with teenagers, her old school was much less cramped than this one. The hallways seemed to be a lot smaller as well, it almost felt like if she took one wrong step, and she’d be swept up in the sea of teenagers.

It was overwhelming, being surrounded by a bunch of people knowing something that you don’t; knowing where to go and what to do.

She felt a sharp pain in her shoulder as someone in a black hoodie shoved past her, making her drop her book.

“Hey, watch it, asshole.” She grumbled. 

Clementine turned to face them, despite the angry murmurs and cursing she received as she held up the ongoing movement of people. The person flipped her off with their back to her, continuing to walk in the opposite direction.

“Well fuck you too, then.” She murmured to herself as she crouched down to get her books. It was going to be a long day.

“You alright down there?”  She heard someone say. She looked up to see a good-looking freckled boy with caramel skin and dreadlocks peering down at her, smirking.

He was much taller than her and wore a long, tanned coat, a blue polo shirt and black ripped jeans. He had a beige satchel hung across his torso. He extended a hand to help her up.

 “I’m fine, thanks.” She murmured, standing up with her book in her hands.

 “Independent. I like that in a woman.” He winked, “I haven’t seen you around before. I’m Louis.”

She eyed the boy, “Clementine, I’m new.”

 He nodded, “Thought so. Wouldn’t forget a pretty face like that.” There was a bright smile on his face, it was easy to tell how confident he seemed to be in himself.

Clementine blushed, embarrassed, “Gross.” She rolled her eyes, only half meaning it.

Louis fell into step beside her, so as to not further aggravate their peers and to keep the crowd moving, “So, what's your first class?”

Clementine groaned, “Math, I don’t even know where that is.”

Louis grinned, “No worries, ma’am. I’ll guide the way!”

“Alright, weirdo.” She smiled as Louis put a hand over his heart in mock hurt.

 

Math actually wasn’t far from her locker, apparently. The halls had cleared up since the bell rang, as students went to their respective lessons. 

Clementine made her way around the corner with the boy to see the room she’d apparently been looking for at the end of the hall, almost hidden.

 “Thanks. I probably would’ve been lost for an hour trying to find this class.”

“Yeah, this is a pretty weird one. I think Narnia was hidden more subtly. No prob, though. I gotta head to english now, but catch ya later?”

The boy offers her a bright smile to which she returns, almost letting her own gaze stay on him for too long before he turns around and almost bolts down the hallway.

She allows herself to smile at his figure getting further away from her, his long legs extending far out in front of him as he ran.

Turning back to the classroom she’d been guided to, she steps in slowly.

Noticing quickly that the class was already mostly here, everyone was in their seats and turned talking to their friends or significant others. It was a relatively larger class, the desks seemed to be a bit cramped together in the small classroom space. 

She finds her eyes falling on one person at the back room wearing a dark hoodie, leaning back on their chair, legs crossed on the desk.

It was hard to tell if they were a guy or a girl as they had their head down, hair obscuring their features as they peered down at their phone.

They seemed to be the only one in the room not engaging with the people around them.

Clementine shakes her head a bit, praying that she’d be able to make some friends soon, but by the atmosphere of this class, that probably wasn’t going to be the case.

It also didn’t help that she wasn’t the best when it came to fitting in or social interaction.

Clementine sighed as she made her way over to an empty desk near the back of the class, tossing her bag on the floor and her book on the table as she sat down.

Math dragged, as the lanky, dark-haired teacher at the front of the class went through some equations and gave the class some problems to solve. She noticed a boy to the left of her scribbling notes down furiously, evidently deep in thought.

 

The bell for the end of class rang. ‘Finally’ Clem thought, gathering her pens and book and putting everything away.

  
The students all packed away their belongings, filing out of the class as quick as possible, everyone eager to leave and get the day over with.  

Making her way out of class, she caught a glimpse of some of her peers falling into step beside her.

 “Hey, you’re new right?” A brunette girl with a slight accent, freckles and kind bright blue eyes beamed at her. She was wearing a pink cropped shirt and high-waisted blue jeans, she was very pretty, Clem thought.

“Yeah. First day today.” She can’t help but grimace a bit, knowing she’ll be having to repeat the same phrase for probably a few weeks.

“I’m Brody,” The girl in the pink smiled, her eyes crinkling. 

Clementine returned the smile, “Clementine.” There was a moment of silence, neither seemingly knowing exactly where to go from there. Just as she was beginning to feel uncomfortable the taller girl, _Brody_ , let her smile widen a bit.

“Lunch hour is coming up and I assume you don’t know where you’re sitting?”

  
Clementine rubbed the back of her neck, embarrassed, “I guess I don’t.”

“You can sit with me and my friends. Nothin’s more awkward than sitting by yourself when you’re new.” The girl smiled sympathetically.

Clementine smiled gratefully and nodded, at least she wasn’t going to be alone at lunch on her first day.

 

Clementine found herself in the busy cafeteria,she thought the _halls_ were packed but it was much more crowded in here. She scanned the room looking for Brody.

 “My darling clementine!” She hears a vaguely familiar voice exclaim, looking up to be greeted with that same freckled boy from earlier, waving, with the other brunette girl she had been looking for sat next to him. She groaned, elbowing him. 

“Ouch” He said loudly, nursing his side. Clementine smirked at the interaction.

Brody rolled her eyes, “Hey Clementine, get over ‘ere!” She beckoned the girl over, signalling to sit with them.

 She walked over and sat down opposite Brody and Louis, unpacking her lunch and taking a bite out of her sandwich. “Ah, you brought your own? Smart choice.” She looks up at the source of the voice, already knowing it had been Louis who was smiling brightly at her.

God, how does it not hurt someone to smile that much?

Before she even had the chance to ask why, Louis’ eyes just about popped out of his head. His eyes are shining and his smile widening at seemingly someone that was over her shoulder. “Sophie! Over here!” He was waving wildly now and Clementine couldn’t help but flinch at how loud his voice had suddenly gotten.

 She felt a presence come up and sit next to her. The girl whose name was supposedly Sophie was wearing a tie-dye beanie. She had to quite literally stop herself from rolling her eyes at the hat.

_Tie-dye?_

Popping out from under the hideous hat was long, bright red hair. It kinda made her wonder if it was natural. She could tell the girl was taller than her even from her being slouched over in front of her sandwich. If she had to guess, she’d say she might be about Louis’ height.

“Soph, dearie. This here’s Clementine. We met her this morning, I think she’s cool but we’ll have to see.” The boy was talking directly to her now, stating this bluntly as if Clementine couldn’t hear every word.

She raised an eyebrow at that and she heard the girl next to her groan.

“Louis. Please don’t scare her away.” The tall girl finally spoke, confusing Clementine a bit. Not fully understanding what the two had been getting at. She looked back at Louis who was now digging in his bag and pulling out a deck of cards. “Nuh-uh. If Clem here wants to be in this circle we got going, we need to get to know her better.”

He proceeded to speak about her as if she wasn’t sitting right in front of him chewing furiously on the sandwich she had thrown together this morning. “Excuse me?”

Louis was already passing out the cards, not paying any mind to her question. Brody had a small smirk on her face, rolling her eyes at the antics the girls were apparently very familiar with. She sent a smile to Clementine, “It’s just a card game. Flip ‘em. Highest card asks and lowest card answers.” 

Her mind was still trying to fully catch up to her when Louis suddenly clapped his hands together loudly, that startled her for the second time today. That was something she was going to have fun getting used to. 

“Couldn’t have explained it better! This is going to be ‘never have I ever’ though. Rules change a bit. We’ll go clockwise and we’ll play as normal. If you’ve done something you gotta put a card in the middle. First one that loses all their cards loses. Or wins? Whatever your heart desires!”

The boy is practically singing to her at this point. He was definitely a character. A very, _loud_ character. He was cute though, so she’ll let it slide.  

Clementine scoffed, “What, you don't know the rules of your own game?” She smirked. 

“Bold of you to assume I didn’t just make it up.”

She only nods as Louis begins to rub his chin in thought. “Okay. We’ll start tame. Never have I ever dated someone with a mullet.”

Before Clementine even has a chance to be confused, Brody is flicking her hand at the boy to which he only found amusing, smirking as Brody put one of her five cards in the middle. “It was short lived. Fuck you.”

She hears Sophie snicker next to her. “Okay, asshole. Never have I ever been a straight guy and had a crush on a lesbian.” Clementine actually raises her eyebrows at this and can hear that Sophie is now full on laughing beside her.

Brody seems to be really glad to have gotten her laugh, as she was practically wheezing at how dark Louis’ face had gotten.

Clementine feels Sophie lean closer to her, almost flinching at the contact before she realizes she’s just explaining, “She’s like, the most raging lesbian you could meet. That’s why it’s so funny.” Clementine could only nod, not fully connecting everything.

“In my defence,” Louis exclaimed, slamming his hands on the table melodramatically, Clem thought she was going to have a heart attack, “We were both, like, 13! It was only a small crus-“ 

Brody snorted, “Whatever you say, Lou.”

It was her turn now. What could she ask? She couldn’t possibly poke fun at anyone yet, she felt almost outcasted already. She knew they were trying to welcome her, so she had to try.

She hummed in thought, mind blank, “I don’t know.. uhh..” she pondered for a moment, “Never have I ever worn jeans to bed.”

The four exchanged curious looks with one another, before Sophie put down a card.

The rest of the teens at the table looked at her disapprovingly.

“How could you even do that? Jeans are so uncomfortable.” Brody said, scowling at the thought. “They’re not THAT uncomfortable! Stop coming for me.” She said frowning dramatically, flipping Brody off as they all laughed.

Clem let herself smirk slightly, these guys seemed like cool people.

“She also sleeps in a bra.” Brody teased. 

There was a beat of silence, “And HOW would you possibly know this, Brod?” Louis teased, exchanging knowing glances to the two.

There was silence, Brody and Sophie exchanging a look before Brody’s cheeks were flushed red, flipping the boy off as she looked away, embarrassed.

Clementine didn’t really know what the fuck just happened, but smiled nonetheless.

“DON'T COME FOR ME.” Sophie covered her face with her hands.

“Well, ladies, I think that's a good place to call it. We can continue this game at my place tonight?” He said, collecting the cards and putting them in the pack, back in his satchel. Brody and Sophie nodded, getting their stuff as the bell was going to go for class in a few minutes.

“Tonight?” Clementine questioned.

“Mhm. We usually hang at Lou’s place most afternoons, talk shit, play some music, just hang really.” Sophie nodded.

Before she could answer; a voice came up from across the table “Clementine! You should totally come.” Louis said, noticing her hesitancy, “C’mon, it’ll be fun. You can meet the rest of our group, they’re all chill, I swear.”

“Yeah. They’ll love ya.” Brody smiled at Clementine from across the table.

Clementine pondered for a second. She should at least try to step out of her comfort zone and meet some people, hopefully make some friends. If she didn’t like it she could always just get picked up.

She sighed, admitting defeat, “Okay.”

The teens cheered and whooped, earning a few strange looks and glares from others near their table. Clementine flinched as Brody wrapped her in a tight hug, shaking her a bit.

“Woah easy there Brody, maybe Louis isn’t the one who’ll be scaring her off.” Sophie rolled her eyes as Brody pulled away and stuck her tongue out at the other girl.

The group stood up and began to make their way out of the cafeteria, Louis walking beside Clementine.

“I can drive you if you want, you alright with motorcycles?”

“Mhm. I’ve drove one a few times myself.”

Louis looked at her surprised, seemingly impressed.

“I don’t have a license though, so shh.” Clementine smirked as Louis laughed, miming zipping his mouth shut and throwing the key. 

“I won’t tell a soul. Meet you at the main doors after school?” Clementine nodded. 

“Whatcha got now Clem?” Brody enquired, as the group stood outside the cafeteria in the hallway surrounded by lockers, as teens walked past.

 “Government.”  She outwardly groans, earning a laugh from the two girls close to her.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think any of us have it. But it’s on my way to AP art.” Sophie smiles, gesturing for Clementine to follow her, which she did.

Brody and Louis waved the two goodbye, heading in the opposite direction. Sophie offered Clementine a sympathetic smile, “Sorry about them. They can be a lot sometimes. Louis more so than Brody.”

Clementine found herself returning the smile, “It’s fine. Better than being stuck by myself not knowing where to go.”

“Is it, though?” Sophie laughed.

Clementine hummed, smirking, “Maybe not.” the two laughed as they continued down the hall to their classes.

 

Pulling up on the drive, Clementine gaped at the size of the building in front of them, “You live here?”

Louis parked his bike in the garage of a big house. He removed his helmet and shook his head, like a wet dog, as his dreads fell back into place. Clementine followed suit, removing her own helmet.

“What, you surprised?” He grinned, taking the helmets and placing them on a shelf.

“I guess.” She took in her surroundings. Louis’ garage was, huge. It had two other cars parked in it. One was a red Ferrari and the other was a car she couldn’t even identify. There were a few boxes stacked in the corner, and a lot of random tools on the shelves.

Louis lead the way into the house, through a long hallway, with doors that lead into many rooms.

Finally she was lead into a living room, already occupied by two teenagers, who both looked around Clem’s age. One was sat on the couch and the other on a beanbag, facing away from the door.

A blonde boy, with an awful mullet that was shaved on the sides looked up from the large flat screen TV mounted on the wall, a game controller in his hands. He was wearing baggy jeans and a green flannel shirt.

“Hey Lou. Your dad let us in.”

“Cool.” He said, before slumping on the couch next to the boy, Clementine sitting next to him. “Watcha playin’?”

“Fortnite.” the boy answered. Louis gagged, rolling his eyes.

“I know, gross right? PUBG is so much better and the OG battle royale”

Clementine could hear a feminine voice coming from where the beanbag was. It sounded slightly raspy and harsh, but also very soft.

They were wearing a black hoodie and slouching over their phone, tapping rapidly at the screen. They had their hood up and their hair was obscuring their face, so clem couldn’t really tell what they looked like. They had an interesting and mysterious atmosphere about them, clem thought, as she watched the interaction.

“Well can you fucking boogiedown or have chug jug in pubg? No, so shut it”

“Alright, crackhead.”

“Shut up, pussy.”

Louis sighed, “You are what you eat.”

 “LOUIS.” The blonde boy scolded, as he burst out laughing, clutching his sides.

 Clementine snorted, smiling as she watched.

She scanned the room, there were a few abstract paintings decorating the walls. There were three bean bags, the couch facing the TV . There was also a leather recliner in the corner to the right of the couch.

“Guys! We have a new member, please don’t scare her.”

 

Louis spread his arms wide, gesturing towards Clementine’s presence. This startled Clementine a bit, not really wanting to be at the center of attention.

She laughed nervously, absentmindedly tucking a curl behind her ear, “Yeah.. I’m Clementine.”

“Member? What is this, a cult?” The female voice chimed in.

“Shh.” Louis hissed, “This is Marlon,” signalling to the mullet boy, who smiled in response, “and this is our beloved rebellious, antisocial legend, Miss Violet.”

“Fuck off.” She flipped him off, tapping at her screen with her freehand. 

Clementine smirked, she thought it was pretty impressive that the teen could flip people off whilst still on their phone. Louis gasped, putting a hand over his heart, “Ouch. That hurts, Vi. I thought it was a compliment.” The girl only scoffed, putting her phone down only to flip him off a second time.

Louis is shaking his head disapprovingly, making his way towards the beanbag. The girl didn’t notice him approaching, as her eyes were still locked on her phone, taking up all of her focus. The hood probably obscuring her peripheral vision.

Whatever she was doing must’ve been really riveting, clementine thought to herself, she seemed to be glued to that thing. She couldn’t help but wonder what she must’ve been doing on it.

He reaches her, crouching down, quickly snatching her phone from her hands and pulling her hood down.

She had short, shaggy dirty blonde hair, haphazardly cut above her shoulder, it complimented her pretty, paper-like pale skin and light eyes.

“Hey!” She protested. The girl springs up immediately, turning to face him and starts reaching for her phone but he clearly has quite a few inches on her. He dangles it above her head just out of her reach, as she swats the air for it, stood on her tip-toes. Clementine found herself smiling at the interaction.

“Stop being antisocial!” He exclaimed, Louis’ loud laughter boomed throughout the entire room, amused at the girl’s miserable attempts to grab at the phone in his hand. “I get it’s your brand and all, but-”

“It’s too early in the day for you to be an asshole!” She lets out a groan and eye roll as the boy continues laughing, letting his guard down for a second as he grins at Clementine, winking, long enough for her to get her phone back.

 “Awhh. You’re no fun” Louis blew a raspberry at the blonde, plopping back down on the couch.

Violet slumped back onto the beanbag. She puts her phone into the pocket of her hoodie, so that Louis wont steal it again.

“Wise choice, my friend.”

Clementine watches as the girl leans back and tucks some blonde strands of hair behind her ear, revealing a silver industrial bar and double lobe piercings, one being a safety pin and the other being a silver chain.

She analyses the other girl’s appearance, she’s sat with her right knee drawn to her chest, her forearm resting on it. She had a black hair-tie on her wrist. Now that Clementine could properly see her face, she took in the other girl’s features. She noticed she had a silver nose ring. She had prominent cheekbones, pretty bright green eyes, slightly obscured by her hair.

She glances at Clementine for half a second before turning back to Louis,  “Where are Brody and Soph?” 

Louis shrugged, “Hell if I know, I’m usually always the last to show up.” As if on cue, the two girls in question enter the room.

“Who’s ready to get fuckin lit?” The girls she met earlier in the day practically barged through the door as if it was their own house.

“Who is late to their own party?” Clementine smirked.

“Louis, that’s who.” Violet replied monotone.

Brody was carrying a grocery bag and Sophie carried a bong in her hands. 

“Nicee” Marlon remarked, tearing his eyes from the screen for a split-second. He moves to the television to switch it off, sitting down on the floor in front of it, leaning back against the wall.

“There are my two favorite girls in the world!” He proclaimed, walking up towards the girls and taking the bag from Brody’s grasp as she closes the door behind her.

Sophie makes her way towards the bean bag area and drops down right next to Violet. “Vi! We missed you at lunch!” The blonde only nods in response, barely acknowledging Sophie and reaching for the bong, as she got up and left the room.

“So, now that The Stoner Squad are all present-”

“The stoner squad?” Clementine questioned, an eyebrow raised curiously, a smirk on her lips.

“I hate when you call us that.” Brody groaned.

Louis makes his way to where Violet had been sitting and practically falls back on the bag.

Violet walked back into the room, placing the bong on the table that’s now holding ice and water. Louis passed a small ziplock bag with pre-crushed weed in it to her, as she packed it into the bong bowl.

She glares at Louis, noticing he took her spot, she walks over to where Louis had been sat earlier, and sits down next to Clementine. She glances at the girl, before slouching back into the couch.

Brody makes her way towards the others and grabs a bean bag out from the corner, dragging it into the circle-type formation where everyone else is already situated.

Clementine leans back on the sofa, watching as Violet pulls out a lighter from her jean pocket, taking the first hit.

She watches as the girl inhaled, smoke filling up in the chamber. She inhales smoke, holding it in her mouth before she closes her eyes and parts her lips.

The other kids chatter, Louis talking slightly louder than everyone else, more animated in his movements. He rips open a bag of chips and shares them with the others.

Clementine finds herself watching the blonde almost in awe, never having seen someone smoke a bong up close.

As she’s exhaling, her eyes fall upon Clementine, finding the brunette’s reaction amusing the blonde holds her gaze, smirking slightly.  

She takes another hit, inhaling once again, this time exhaling smoke rings as she smirks once again at Clementine.  

Clementine is almost mesmerized, not breaking her eyes away from the scene. Trying to process everything at once from the shapes Violet is making out of the smoke to their now locked eyes.

“You want a hit?” She asks, passing it to her, “Clementine, right?”  

“Mhm.” Clementine managed, nodding, “I mean- no, I don’t smoke.”

Violet eyed the girl strangely, “Alright, pass this to Marlon, then.”

Clementine takes it from the girl’s hands, her fingers brushing against her hand. She glances up for a split second to see the other girl looking back at her, before seeing a slight quirk upwards of her lips.

The blonde whips out her phone, tapping once again at the screen as it illuminated her face.

Marlon takes the bong, as Louis dusts off his hands and grabs some cards from the coffee table in the centre.

“Who’s up for a little game?” He announces, dealing out cards to the group. “Never Have I Ever, same rules as before, put a card down in the middle if you’ve done it. Whoever has the bong asks.”

Clementine watches as the girl next to her puts her phone away and leans against the arm of the couch. She feels the strange urge to strike up conversation with her, she wanted to get to know her.

She seemed like the cool, stoic type. Louis’ introduction of her earlier seemed fairly accurate, she seemed quite antisocial. Still, Clementine wanted to actively make an effort to befriend these guys.

“Uh, I like your piercings.” She looks at the girl, loud enough for only Violet to hear. 

The girl in question looked back at Clem, expression undecipherable, “Hm. Thanks.” She hummed.

 

Louis claps his hands together, same as earlier. Seems like that’s his go-to way to get people’s attention. “Alright.” Marlon says after passing the bong to Brody, “Never have i ever kissed my best friend.”

Clementine looked around the circle, seeing Violet and Louis hold each other's gaze for a few seconds, before placing down a card each on the pile at the same time.

Everyone burst out laughing, bar Clementine, Louis, and Violet. Clementine furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, looking helplessly around the circle, completely perplexed.

“Okay! Let me explain!” Louis blurted, noticing Clementine’s lost expression. 

“I love this story. Gets me everytime.” Sophie remarked with a hand to her chest, Brody snickering.

“So I may or may not’ve had a _tiny_ crush on Vi when we were like, 12-“ Clementine raised an eyebrow, glancing to her right to the girl, who looked back amused, before both turning back to Louis, “BUT it was a tiny silly crush that literally meant NOTHING!” He blathered, the teens giggling at his embarrassed, nonsensical rambling. Violet smirked.

“We were playing Cars 2 on Louis’ ps3, and we were talking about how we’ve never kissed anyone-“ Violet stopped, snorting as she reminisced, “and then I asked if we should try it out to see what it’s like, so we did.” She finished the story, smiling as Louis also laughed.

“Oh my god.” Clementine laughed.

“Is that because you’re a, les—uh.” She mentally face-palms herself, her words falling out of her mouth before she’s even able to stop them.

Violet’s attention is turned to her now, trying not to gape. Her eyebrows are furrowed, before she could reply though, Louis beats her to it. “She did say ‘I’m a lesbian’ immediately after so I’d think as much--”

They group burst out in laugher once again, Clementine joining in too, the blonde next to her smiling to herself.

They continue passing the bong, each person taking a couple hits and asking a question until they eventually get to Louis. At this point, mostly everyone has three or four cards out of the five everyone started with.

After taking a long inhale of the bong that was handed to him and breathing it out, his smile is impossibly wider than before as he states confidently, “Never have I ever kissed on the first date.” It’s clear the question is intended for someone.

As Sophie puts one of her cards down there’s a loud and long groan coming from next to him.

“Seriously, Louis? That’s a bit on the nose. Even for you.” Violet says in annoyance, sending a glare towards him.

“C’mon Vi, lighten up!” He leans over far enough to elbow her in the knee, resulting in her swatting away his arms. “So, you haven’t Clem?” 

“I’m gonna vom.” Sophie gagged, earning a chuckle from Brody.

“It was just a simple question, I don’t know why you’re all being so dramatic.” He scoffed, leaning back in his beanbag.

“I hate you.” Violet sighed, massaging her temples and squeezing her eyes shut.

Louis looked at Clementine inquisitively, waggling his eyebrows as he ignored his friends.

“No. I haven’t.” Clementine answered, rolling her eyes at the boy. 

“Hence why she didn’t put down, dumbass.” Violet quipped, receiving a shove from the other boy, leaning over to her. She kicked him back. 

Clementine snorted at the two, as well as Brody, who was watching, entertained. She wondered how they became friends, the two seemed so different, yet extremely close, like siblings.

“Okay, I was just making sure!”

The bong was passed to Vi, taking another big hit and exhaling.

“Okay. Never have I ever,” She looked over at Clem, pale mint eyes scanning her face, before passing the bong on.

 

The teens remained sat a loose circle formation, having ended the game after a while. There were two large pizzas laid out in takeout boxes on the coffee table.

Clementine was pretty sure she was the only one left sober. She didn’t particularly mind though, it was quite amusing watching everyone. Immediately after the game they had Clementine go ahead and order the pizza for obvious reasons.

Everyone was spread out a bit more and now eating several pieces of pizza each, along with the chips Brody and Sophie bought earlier.

Clementine still had her place on the couch, alongside a very stoned certain blonde. It felt a lot more awkward now, as they didn’t have much of a conversation starter without the game.

Maybe Louis knows a little more than meets the eyes.

She’d just finished her third slice and decided to cut it off there, no longer being able to eat anymore. From the looks of those around her though, it didn’t seem to be a problem. 

“So, how are you getting home?” Violet breaks the long silence, actually managing to voice the one question that had been plaguing Clementine’s own mind.

She’s sure Louis smoked the most out of everyone, she’s made multiple bad decisions today but getting back on that bike with him will not be one.

“I’m not sure, I didn’t exactly know this was a _weed_ party.” She tries her best not grimace at the lingering smell in the room. It was intense and it’s possible even the neighbor’s are getting contact high.

Violet only raises an eyebrow in disbelief; reaching over Clementine to grab the last remaining piece in the box in front of them, not even flinching when her arm grazed her knee. “Well, what did he say you were doing?”

She thinks back. Well. Not much. “He just asked if I wanted to hang out and finish the never have I ever game.” She states honestly, glancing at Violet’s still heavily lidded eyes. They were slightly glazed over, a pink hue to the whites of her eyes. She licked her lips, the grease from the pizza giving her lips a slight sheen.

“And _that_ got you over his house? You’re really into him, huh?” Her tone is sarcastic, but the small smile she held was contradicting.

It’s possible it’s all in her head but it felt as if she’d gotten even closer as she dragged _‘huh’._

Her cheeks darken a bit. Probably at her accusation, only taking this opportunity to break their eye contact. “It’s alright, you don’t have to tell me. I won’t pry.”

She’s taking her last bite of the pizza, pausing her sentence to chew. “But if he hasn’t told you yet. You’re-”

“Ladies! Sorry to interrupt this conference that’s happening, but Violet was talking to someone. I had to come check to see if you were alright!” Speak of the devil, Louis dropped in between the two of them, separating the rather small distance that was there before.

Violet seemed to be visually annoyed with his intrusion, but quickly made sure to change her expression from one of annoyance to a playful smirk.

“What? Can’t I get to know your new _friend_?” She puts both of her hands up in a gesture to make air quotation marks around the word ‘friend’. She poked at the boy’s sides, as he lightly shoved her in return.

Clementine’s own eyebrows furrowed at this. What’s the issue here? Was she missing something?

Clementine clears her throat, trying to avoid any further prying. “She was just asking if I had a ride home.”

“Yeah. Shit. Didn’t think about that.” Louis mumbled 

“Yeah. Nice one shitbird.” The girl scolded, elbowing his side, receiving a noogie in return, ruffling up her hair.

“Where do you live, Clem?” Louis asked, diverting his attention to her, still having Violet in a headlock as she tried and failed to squirm her way out of it.

“I live about a block away from the school. So, not too far.” He nods, pondering in his own thoughts for an idea, releasing the girl. 

“I live about two blocks away, we can share an Uber if you want.” Violet’s voice chimed in, beating Louis to a conclusion. He only nods in agreement.

Clementine smiles, “Will he let us in with you wreaking of marijuana?”

Leaning forward a bit so she can see her past Louis. Violet only smiles and ignores her question, standing up and pulling her phone out of her pocket.

“So, is that a yes or are you wanting to stay here all night with this idiot?” She gestures to Louis, who now seemed to be dozing off.

 Clementine chuckled, rolling her eyes and nodding as the blonde pulled up the app on her phone.

“Awh y’all leaving so soon?” Brody pouted, she was sat on Sophie’s lap on the bean bag, both of them sinking into it. Sophie played with Brody’s hair absentmindedly as she glanced up from her phone to Clem and Vi. 

Violet smiled at the two, before sitting on the couch arm that Clem was leaning against, “Yea. And oh my god when are you gonna get a room already? Jesus fucking christ.” She groaned, throwing her arms out in frustration.

The two girls blushed, Sophie looking back down at her phone and Brody clearing her throat. They were both blushing and evidently flustered at Vi calling them out.

Clementine looks over at the two, smiling slightly at their embarrassment. After no rebuttal from the girls, Violet continued typing at her phone again. “And, it’s on the way.” Clementine sends her a grateful smile. “Thanks. I promise I’ll pay you back.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clem sucks at calculus but luckily the stoners are here to help!

The sun beamed down on Clementine’s head, her dark curls attracting the rays’ heat. She walked with the teens she met yesterday, onto the school’s field where they would eat their lunches.

It had obviously only been a day that she knew them, but they seemed to have a good group dynamic, they seemed like decent people at least. But she knew it would take a while getting used to all the new students and teachers at this school. And she definitely didn’t consider herself a particularly patient person.

Upon approaching their spot, the blonde girl she met at Louis’ was already there, under the shade of a overhanging tree, laying on her back on the grass, her arms tucked behind her head. She was wearing black ripped jeans, converse and a plain red hoodie, despite the hot weather.

“My Knight in shining armor! Miss Violet!” Louis exclaimed, jumping on top of her.

“FUCK!” Violet wheezed, as all the other boy’s weight was suddenly thrown onto her. He ruffled her hair and pinches her cheeks, despite the swatting of her arms and her protests.

Clementine snorted as she watched the two’s antics, the blonde squirming underneath Louis.

“Alright kids, y’all settle down now.” Brody smirked, rolling her eyes. The redhead beside her snickered, holding her gaze for a moment too long, before both looking away. Louis rolled off of the blonde, tears in his eyes as he wheezed, laughing uncontrollably as she punched him.

They all sat down on the grass, taking out their respective lunches or eating from their polystyrene trays of food provided from the cafeteria. Clementine situated herself in between Louis and Violet. Sophie and Brody were practically in each other’s laps against the tree, and Marlon was sitting beside Louis.

“Soo..” Louis began, between chomps of his cheetos, “What do you think of Ericson, so far?”

Clementine pondered for a moment. She hated being the new kid, being behind everyone else and having to try make friends when there’s already established cliques and friendship groups. And the group she found herself melding into seemed… interesting, to say the least. She wasn’t so sure if she’d really fit in with them in particular.

“It’s alright actually. I haven’t gotten into trouble yet, so that’s a plus. I’ve probably jinxed it now.” She reminisced over the endless detentions and punishments she’d gotten at her old school. She wasn’t the most well-behaved student, to put it lightly.

Violet was now sat up, eyeing the girl almost incredulously as she stole some of Louis’ cheetos.

She scoffed, “You? Get into trouble? For what, not handing in your homework on time?” She chuckled, rolling her eyes.

“Try, vandalizing, cursing out dumbass teachers, and almost flooding the school. I could go on, if you’d like.” She smirked at Violet’s baffled expression.

“Flooding the school?” Marlon gawked at her, his mouth agape. Sophie and Brody also sharing the expression.

“ _Almost._ ”

Louis’ eyes widened as he grinned, “Holy shit, tangerine! You’re a fucking saint!”

Clementine felt her cheeks heat up at the remark but simply smirks in response.

Violet gagged, “Louis, shut up.” Flicking a cheeto at his face. He retaliated with a flip of the bird.

“Tangerine?” Brody questioned, giving Louis a weird look.

“Orange pun, Brod.” Sophie smiled, as Brody face-palmed at the boy.

The two were sat together, they were practically glued to one another everytime Clem saw them. They didn’t seem to have an affinity for personal space, she mused. She couldn’t tell if they were just really good friends, or more.

“Actually, calculus kinda sucks.” Clementine remarked, taking a bite from her sandwich.

“Awh, why?” Brody asked, pouting at the girl.

“Well, our fucking asshat teacher is making me catch up on all of the work from the semester, so I _somehow_ have to teach myself the entire scheme of work.” She groaned, anger bubbling beneath her skin. She wasn’t _terrible_ at math, she was actually quite good, but teaching herself everything everyone already knows was going to be a pain in the ass.

“The _entire_ semester? Now that’s just plain evil.” Sophie chimes in, still absentmindedly playing with Brody’s hair.

“That’s what I fucking said!”

Brody hummed, seemingly deep in thought. She gasped as an idea seemed to spring to mind, “Oh! I know, Vi can tutor you, she’s really good at math.”

Clementine looked over to the girl in question, whose head quickly perked up at the mention of her name and everyone’s eyes looking expectantly at her.

She shook her head, glaring at Brody, “Oh no. I am NOT tutoring anyone.”

“C’mon, Vi. You used to help me with math!” Brody whined, frowning.

“Being good doesn’t mean I can teach someone the entire goddamn scheme of work.” She says harshly, crossing her arms. She glanced at Clem, her expression softening from one of annoyance to more apologetic as she made eye contact with her.

“I mean. I could use the help.” Clem cringed as she admitted it, “But it’s fine. I’m sure teaching myself won’t even be that hard.” She lied. She didn’t want to come off as annoying, plus she could figure it out herself if need be.

“I’ll even help y’all if I can, I’m not as good as you Vi but it’s not fair for you to have to teach her everything.” Brody smiled at Clementine kindly, her blue eyes reflecting in the sun.

“I could tutor you, Clem.” Louis grinned, winking.

“Yea right man, you’d get one equation in and then get bored and get stoned.” Marlon quipped, the others chuckling and nodding in agreement.

Louis gasped in offense, before nodding too, “Okay, that’s valid.”

Clementine’s attention was back on the girl next to her. She caught the girl’s gaze, her mint eyes thoughtful.

She sighed, “Lingard _is_ an ass... Okay, whatever, I’ll tutor you.”

Brody whooped, “Awesome! I’ll help y’all too.” She smiled brightly, and Clementine returned it. “Oh and it’ll be so fun too, we can make snacks and it’ll be like a girls night!”

“Thank you, so much. There is absolutely no way I’d have the motivation to do all this myself.” She says, letting out a sigh of relief.

“It’s really no problem, is after school cool for you? We can go to Vi’s.” Brody suggests, to which Violet immediately turns to her, eyebrows raised. “We’re auctioning off my house as well?” She asks, the annoyance audible in her voice once again.

“Yeah! My house isn’t really in top shape for company right now. And I know how your folks are about your tidiness.” She states matter-of-factly. Violet’s scowl stayed present on her face, refusing to argue and just continues eating her cheetos.

The teens continues to chatter away, eating their respective lunches. Clementine felt kind of guilty, despite her not even suggesting the idea. She could tell Violet wasn’t really on board for the whole tutoring thing, but on the other hand she really could use the help.

One thing she couldn’t help but notice though was her lack of annoyance directed at her personally, both times it seemed to be at Brody even though Clementine was the reason this was even happening.

“Let’s play a game, you guys.” Marlon spoke up, gaining the attention of everyone in the circle, bar Brody and Sophie. Sophie whispered something into Brody’s ear, making her chuckle quietly as she shoved the girl lightly.

“Shut up!” She murmured quietly, grinning. She steals Sophie’s black snapback, holding it teasingly above her head as she swatted the air for it. Her long, auburn hair shining bright in the sun. Both girls were blushing very slightly, Clem noticed.

“Is this just, like a normal thing that happens all the time?” Clem asks aloud before she can stop herself, asking nobody in particular.

“What, the games or Brody and Soph being gay?” Violet replies, knowing full well what she meant but she’d never pass up an opportunity to call the two out. Sending the two a smirk when both the girls’ faces reddened. Sophie grabbed the hat from the brunette, placing it back on, backwards.

“Awhh Vi, stop bullying them.” Louis nudged Violet.

“Basically. Louis always has us playing stupid games.” Violet smirked, receiving a glare from the boy.

“Truth or dare! I’ll start, Clem, truth or dare?” Before anyone has time to protest, Louis’ face breaks out into a smile and turns to face Clem.

Clementine hummed as she thought for a second, “Truth.”

Louis hummed as he thought of a question to ask. “What is the last thing you searched?”

“Okay. Uh,” Clem pulled out her phone from her back pocket of her jeans, opening up Safari.

She cringed as her eyes scanned the webpage. She was certain she was going to die from embarrassment right then and there. She felt her face burn.

“So? What is it?” Louis grinned.

“Uhhm.” Clementine considered lying for a second, before the boy next to her leaned over her shoulder, reading off of her screen.

“ _Why does a bong need ice?_ ” Louis read aloud, wheezing as he cackled, clutching his stomach, “Clem, that’s adorable! You’re trying to understand our stoner ways!”

The teens chuckled, even Violet had the faintest ghost of a smile on her lips. Clementine averting her eyes to the grass as she blushed.

“Awhh.” Brody cooed, giggling.

“Well, it doesn’t _need_ ice, per say, it makes the smoke cool-” Marlon explained in strange amounts of detail, before being cut off.

“Well, I _know_ that now!” Clementine exclaimed melodramatically, covering her face in embarrassment. Louis reaches his arms out in attempt to put them around Clementine’s shoulders comfortingly but she only smacks them away.

She lets herself smile a bit at the realization that there’s a lack of real judgement and just friendly smiles surrounding her.

“Okay, um.” She looked around the circle they were sat in a bit, no entirely sure who to ask. Violet catches her eye, and she stops. “Violet, truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“Okay, what would you,” She pauses for a moment, thinking on how to correctly phrase the question, “What would you do if you woke up one day as a guy?”

“Probably fucking beat my meat raw, obviously.” She replies with no hesitation, her facial expression completely serious. She’s evidently put a lot of thought into this before.

Brody, Sophie, and Clementine hum and nod in agreement.

She continues, “And have sex with like, every girl.”

“Vi, you’ve literally had more girlfriends than me.” Louis states, smirking knowingly at her answer.

“So, one? Virgin-ass.” Smirking, she raises her eyebrows in his direction, elbowing him.

“Precisely.”

Sophie clears her throat, and waves her hands. “Alright kids. No virgin-shaming here.”

“Speaking of VIRGINS. Sophie, truth or dare.” Sophie is caught off guard for a moment before turning her attention to Violet. Brody snorts beside her.

“Fine. Since you’re all a bunch of pussies I’ll choose dare.”

“Shit.” Violet scrunched her face, groaning, “ _Fine_. I dare you to tell me what’s going on with you and Brody.”

Sophie’s face visibly darkens, exclaiming “That’s not how this game works.” throwing her arms out in front of her, before crossing them.

“Okay. I dare you to answer the question.”

Sophie exchanges a glance with Brody, her blue eyes flitting around the circle.

“You hear that? Sounds like the bell. Good talk!” Sophie stands up from the circle, grabbing Brody’s wrist, picking up the rest of their trash before heading towards the doors with haste.

“I think we should call it there anyway. If I’m late to Gov again I’ll probably get clapped.” Louis says, standing up as well.

 

“Hey,” Clementine said, jogging to catch up with the blonde. Violet stopped and looked at her expectantly, “You sure you’re okay with this whole… tutoring thing?” Clementine didn’t want to burden her with tutoring her as well as her own work.

Violet groaned, rolling her eyes, “Yeah, I guess. It’s whatever. Brody’ll probably do most of the tutoring though.” She said nonchalantly, pulling out a pack of gum from her hoodie pocket. Clementine glances down at the pack, not knowing if asking for a piece would be rude. Deciding not to, she continues walking side by side the girl trying to come up with something to say.  

She decides to clear her throat loudly in order to get her attention again. Violet only looks at her blankly and raises an eyebrow waiting for her to speak. Oh, shit. Didn’t think she’d get this far.

“So, what class do you have right now?” She decides on asking, turning every corner with the girl beside her.

“Well, nothing right now. This is a passing period.” The same mischievous smirk that she had on her face most of yesterday reappeared, obviously amused at Clementine’s reaction.

“I mean like, where are you going?” She groaned. It was an obvious question that was previously given a sarcastic answer. She’s not sure why she didn’t reply with something equally as irritating, but Violet just gives off the aura of someone you don’t want to be on the bad side of.

She only hums, continuing to chew furiously on her gum and shrugs, “Uh, I’m _supposed_ to be going to Econ.” With a faint smile still present on her face, she turns another corner. 

“Supposed? Well, are you just not going?”

Violet chewed, looking at her sidelong, blowing a bubble before it popped and she licked the gum off her lips, “Nope.”

There was an awkward silence, Clementine knew she shouldn’t have tried talking to the _least talkative_ of the group. She mentally face palmed, making a mental note to never try strike up conversations with anyone ever again.

Violet looked at her strangely to which Clementine looked back, “What?”

She narrowed her eyes, “Shouldn’t.. you be heading to whatever you have?” making strange popping sounds with her gum. It smelt like peppermint.

Clementine stared at her blankly. Violet blew another bubble as she looked amused at the other girl.

“I’m going to skip with you.” She announces, surprising herself in the process.

The girl looked at her bemusedly, before laughing flatly, “What, skip through fields of daisies? It’s your second day _babe_ , chill.”

Clementine felt her face heat up at the condescending tone and the pet name, “Excuse me?” She managed, an embarrassed flush to her cheeks.

“How can I tutor you if you get detention?” She notices they’re almost out of one of the many side doors at this point, before Violet turns to face her and crosses her arms.

“Well, we’d both get detention. Tutor me there.” She says confidently, letting her face break out into a smirk as she placed her hands on her hips. She tries her best not to let it falter at the little raise Vi’s eyebrows do.

“You can’t talk in detention, I thought you had some big bad rep at your old school. You’d think that you’d know that.” she sounded accusing, but not mean. There was more of a teasing tone in her voice than anything else. She licked her lips, they probably tasted like mint.

Clementine’s mouth hung open for a second before shutting it closed at the accusation. Not coming up with a reply quickly enough before Violet smiles wider.

The blonde girl takes this chance to step closer to her, not touching her but close enough that she could probably feel her breath if she’d taken another one. She could definitely smell the mint more strongly, as the girl slowly blew a bubble, her face close to her own, it popped mere inches in front of Clementine’s face. The smacking of the gum continued as she simply said;

“I have to smoke. Go to class.” Practically whispering the next words, “See you after school.” And with that, she was turning back around on her heel, leaving Clementine frozen in her spot in the hallway as the last bell rings. She felt her face was hot, probably from embarrassment, she imagined. Her only thought being, _shit_.

 

She jogged to her Government class, sitting in her spot next to Louis. Thankfully she was only a few minutes late, and her teacher was cool.

“Well well, if it isn’t our beloved trouble-maker Clementine, being late to class.” He nudged her, talking in a hushed tone so the teacher wouldn't hear them,“I thought clementines were supposed to be sweet.” He hummed, Clementine shoving him hard in response, covering her face in embarrassment. He chuckled at her.

“You’re disgusting.”

“Thank you, thank you, I’ll be here all week… So, uhm.” He trailed off. Clementine looked at him, nodding for him to go on, “What’re you.. doing on Saturday?” Hope twinkling in his brown eyes, waggling his eyebrows.

Clementine couldn’t help but smile to herself. Louis wanted to hang out with her. She _did_ want to get to know him better.

She leaned her head against her palm, her elbow propped up on the table, “Nothing comes to mind, why?“ she hummed with a smirk, entranced by the boy’s charm.

“Cool, well there’s a new Chuck E. Cheese having their grand opening this weekend if you’re trying to accompany me.” Louis grinned, winking.

Clem gawks at the boy, eyes wide in bewilderment “Oh, I wasn’t aware this was a babysitting job.”

“Yes it is, I am baby.” His smile is still wide, not showing any signs of faltering. “Do you like Cheesecake Factory?”

She removes her head from against her palm to reach in her bag for her textbook. “Oh, sure. Is anyone else coming?” She’s still smiling, missing the way Louis’ eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Louis blinked. “No, I thought it could just be us.” He slightly stutters, not expecting a question so oblivious.

“Oh, uh that’s cool I guess.” She offers a friendly smile, taking her attention off of him and onto the teacher that had finally started the long lecture.

The bell signaling the end of school rang, Clementine gathering her things and walking out into the halls, to the main doors, where she waited, preoccupying herself by going on her phone and checking her socials.

The main entrance was probably the one place she was familiar with in the school, she was still getting used to where everything was. It probably wouldn’t take long, after all, this school was much smaller than the one she attended previously.

She wasn’t looking forward to giving up her free time to catch up on work, just because she started a few weeks into the semester. Nevertheless, with two girls that she didn’t even really know.

 _You get paid to teach, and yet I have to catch up on work you can’t be bothered to teach me._ She thought bitterly. Thumbing at her screen as she scrolled through Instagram. _What a fucking asshole._ Like she wasn’t struggling in an entire new school already, with entirely different people.

“Hey.” She heard a soft, slightly raspy voice mumble, interrupting her thoughts. She whipped her head upwards to the source, greeted by Violet, chewing again. The faint smell of peppermint once again flooding her senses.

“Do you always chew gum?” Clementine asked curiously, the girl blowing another bubble, keeping her gaze on her.

“Yup.” Violet eyed the girl, before leaning against the wall Clem was stood near.

“Hey y’all!” Brody beamed, as she joined the two.

“You guys like come in packs or something. Can’t see one without seeing another.” Clementine was only half-joking, Brody’s laughter resonates in her ears from beside her. Violet got off the wall and began walking down the hall. Brody and Violet seemed to know where they were going so she just followed them in the direction they were heading.

Momentarily taking a break from her loud chewing, Violet began feeling around her pockets for something as they got closer to the parking lot.

“There’s not a whole lot of room. You’re gonna have to kinda sandwich since you’re the smallest, Clem.” Brody’s voice sounds through her ears again when the two of them stop in front of an old pickup truck.

It seemed to be more rust than anything else and the side-view mirror was hanging on for it’s life with quite a few pieces of duct-tape. Under all the rust it was easy to tell that it had once been a bright red.

She hates to assume the worst but it didn’t look very safe.

“This here is Violet’s son, Steve.” Brody is smiling, walking from beside her to in stand in front of it, reaching her arms out as if to reveal something extremely big, but was underwhelming.

She can’t stop herself from asking, “Steve?” her lips quirk up in a smile, raising her eyebrow as she turns to look at Violet who was too busy trying to get her car to unlock with the button on her keys. Her eyebrows fly up to her hairline at the name though, before furrowing them back down just as quickly and glaring at Brody.

“Fuck off.” Giving up on the button, she walks around to the other door to manually unlock it instead. “I was sixteen!” She yells when she gets to the other side, pushing her key in and finally getting her door open.

Brody is smiling brightly despite the words that Violet spat at her, “Come on, it’s a cute name!” Clementine could practically see the mischief in her eyes, completely contradicting her smile and kind words.

“That’s adorable.” Clementine chuckled, catching Violet’s eye as she glanced up at her, diverting her eyes after a millisecond. Climbing in after Violet, with Brody following suit. “And _lame_.” Clementine grinned as Violet shot her a wary glare.

“Hey _fuck_ you, man. I’d like to see _you_ come up with a better name. Steve is intellectual, nice and simple.” She grumbled threateningly, but with no malice behind her words. Clementine swore she could see the corners of her pale pink lips barely tug up into a barely-there simper.

“Well, I wouldn’t _name_ my car to begin with.” Clementine chortled, prodding teasingly with her words at the broody teen behind the wheel. Brody giggled along with her.

Violet groaned, fair cheeks dusted pink in humiliation, rolling her eyes as she started up the jalopy she called a truck. Brody chuckled at Violet's embarrassment, peering out the window absentmindedly.

Clementine was slightly squashed between the two, sat almost shoulder to shoulder in between them, but she didn’t mind.

Vi rolled her window down slightly, air wafting through her hair, Clementine could feel the breeze on her face. She started the engine up, the dilapidated vehicle humming to life as she pulled out of the school parking lot and onto the road. They remained in a peaceful silence, the music playing on the radio, filling the empty air.

It was a fairly short car ride as she didn’t live far from the school at all. They pulled up to Violet’s house which was much smaller in comparison to Louis’. She didn’t seem to have a driveway, as she parked on the street with the rest of the cars on the block.

They unbuckled their belts, Violet locking the door behind her as she walked ahead, unlocking the front door.

 

The plain, beige-painted walls of Violet’s room were covered with posters, of different bands and artists. Clementine ogled at them, recognizing Gorillaz, Paramore, Lorde, Panic! At the Disco, all of which unsurprising, as they matched the girl’s personality.

The three were sat on the floor of Violet’s bedroom, books and papers full of calculus equations sprawled out in front of them. Clementine was laying on her stomach, in the middle of Brody and Violet.

“Derivatives are built from limits and Integrals, or antiderivatives, can be viewed as the inverse of the derivative." Violet begins to point fingers around the page to emphasize the certain rules she’d been explaining.

Clementine watched the girl’s glassy green eyes dart and scan over the page, occasionally looking into her own and scanning her face to gauge her understanding.

Violet spoke differently when she explained what they were taught. Her voice and face more serious, constantly checking if she understood. She also seemed quite patient, what with Clementine and even Brody asking constant questions.

“You can do some of those equations Lingard gave you yourself now, see how you do.”

There was a beat of silence, before Clem peered up at her, the corners of her lips tugging up into a smirk, “Y’kno, for someone who isn’t good at teaching, you’re pretty fuckin’ good at teaching.”

Violet rolled her eyes, shrugging, “Nah.” she murmured, feigning nonchalance despite the slight flush to her face. “Thanks, though.” the last part was barely audible.

It had been probably half an hour, the two helping Clem with her questions and test papers. Brody’s phone buzzed and pinged from it’s position on the floor. Brody picked it up, scanning the notification.

A slight smile was plastered on her lips as she tapped at the screen. She placed it down before it pinged again, she picked it up, scanning once again. Her face seemed to flush dark magenta, as she hurriedly tapped back, darting to stand up, a slight smile still on her face.

“H-hey y’all. I’m sorry but I have to go, uh.” She clambered over the papers strewn about the place, hastily grabbing her bag and her things.

“The fuck, _you_ offered to stay-” Violet’s face was now one of a sour expression, sitting up to scowl at Brody and glare daggers into her soul.

“I know, somethin’ came up.” Her eyes still darting up and down from her phone. “I have to babysit.”  She says, offering an apologetic smile to Clem. Clementine could only raise a brow in speculation.

“How’re you getting there?” Violet asked, preoccupied with checking Clem’s test answers, seemingly now uninterested in the topic at hand.

“Soph’s pickin’ me up.” Brody said, before realizing what words just fell out of her mouth. Her face fell as she seemingly didn’t intend for that bit of information to slip out.

Clementine couldn’t help but smirk with Violet as she interrogated her, “And _why_ would _Sophie_ be picking you up to babysit?” She grinned as she revelled in Brody’s embarrassment for once, crossing her arms triumphantly.

Brody stopped, her expression blank, “Uhh- we’re babysitting _Minnie_ together. Okay! Bye!” she blabbered, the words coming out so quickly it was hard to piece together what she said. She offers a smile before darting out of her bedroom and out of the house, the front door slamming shut. It took Clementine a few seconds to process what she actually said.

Violet facepalmed, shaking her head as she rolled her eyes, “What an idiot.”

Clementine hummed inquisitively, Violet looking at her.

“It’s just; Sophie literally has a _little brother_ that she could’ve said they were babysitting.” she groaned.

She sat up to sit on her knees rather than her stomach, the grimace ever-present on her face. “It seems that my sidekick has been booty-called, so we’re on our own here.”

Clementine laughed, ostensibly surprising Violet, before she smiled shyly in return.

“Welp.” Violet huffed, getting up, “I think this calls for a break, I’m gonna go get some fresh air. Come with?” she extended a hand to Clementine, helping her up.

“What a gentlewoman.” Clementine swooned. Violet scoffed and flipped her off in response. She noted that Violet’s hands were surprisingly soft. And warm.

Violet walks ahead of Clementine, onto the front porch. She leans with her back against the bannister, as she keeps playing with her lighter, flicking it on and off absentmindedly.

Clementine stood next to her, leaning her forearms against it. The lighter casted a slight golden glow to her fair skin, the bright flame reflecting in her pale eyes.

The sky was clear, the evening air crisp and warm. The occasional light breeze nipping at Clementine’s arms. Vibrant bursts of reds, oranges and pinks were like dry brushed oil paints on the canvas of the sky. Clementine could see them in tired fern eyes.

There was a few moments of silence, before Clementine grew antsy, feeling the urge to break it.

“Uhm.” Clementine spoke up. _Goddamn it not again_ , she mentally scolded herself for blanking once again. Violet peered at her, her brow raised questioningly. “So, do you smoke a lot?"

She gave Clementine a strange look, before smirking, “Nah, I don’t get high often. Marlon’s your guy for that.” She scowled at the thought of him, her expression softening into an impish smirk once again when Clementine laughed. A silence falls upon them, Clementine occasionally hearing the birds chirping in trees nearby.

“You ever smoked?” She glanced at Clementine, before putting her hands in her pockets

She shook her head, smiling, “Do I look like I’ve smoked before?”

Violet chuckled, snorting as she laughed quietly, “Nope. You’re a certified dork.”

“ _Hey!_ Says the one who names their fuckin’ truck Steve.” She shot back, teasingly.

Violet shot her a glare, before chuckling again, rolling her eyes, “Steve’s a fucking sick name, asshole.”

“The name isn’t the issue. I bet you’re like that guy that is in love with his car, or something.” She smiled

“I, what? No I’m not. You’ve got me and Louis all mixed up. Plus, if that was the case don’t you think it’d at least be a feminine name?” There’s a smile tugging at her lips but refusing to give her the satisfaction.

“Hm, you’re right. Change it to Petunia.” She hears Violet scoff from beside her. Clementine only grins at the sound, deciding not to patronize the girl any further. “But to give you a straight answer; no I haven’t.”

Violet hums in contemplation,“Would you ever try it?”

“Probably not. I don’t think it’s my kind of thing.” She says simply, not taking much time to think of her answer. “Plus, I don’t really have an early death wish.”

Violet lightly nudged her, finally letting an actual, genuine laugh fall from her lips. “I guess that’s a fair point.”

“But I mean like, it’s cool that you do. I’m totally _cool_ with that.” She forces out a nervous laugh. Before she can stop herself, she begins to form finger guns with her hands and pretends to shoot her with them.

 _Oh god I can’t stop please-_ “And Louis, and your _Stoner Squad_. Uh.” She lets her eyes squeeze shut, covering her face with her hands and desperately wishes the earth would swallow her up whole.

Violet blanked her, merely blinking for a solid few seconds before erupting into a fit of laughter at the spectacle. Clementine keeps her face in hands, not daring to remove them. Her mouth downturned into a frown.

Noticing Clementine’s embarrassment, she allows her laughter to ebb away, “It’s chill, Clementine.” she says lowly, she gently wraps her hands around Clem’s, removing them from covering her face, keeping hold of them for only a split second before offering a small smile.

Clementine’s eyes are wide, promptly removing her hands away, still slightly flustered. It was hard to tell if her face was so warm from the embarrassment or from the unexpected touch and how she was now painfully aware of how close they were.

“You’re such a dork, I promise it’s fine.” She laughed breathily.

“Shut up.” Clementine murmured, averting her eyes.

“Anyway, uhhm.” Noticing that her discomfort doesn’t fade, Violet takes it upon herself to change the subject.

“She might’ve already asked you, but Brody is wanting us to have a ‘girls day’ on Saturday.’” Violet reaches her hands in front of her to make air quotations around the words, a look of annoyance appearing. “You know like, drive around and probably go to the beach because she’s like obsessed with it.”

Clementine allows a smile to find it’s way back on her lips, about to accept the invite on instinct before remembering her earlier conversation with Louis. And the smile fades just as soon as it arrives.

“Actually Louis kind of asked me to go to Cheesecake Factory.”

Clementine can see the slight way Violet’s shoulder’s tense, but her face holds a very unreadable expression, before she nods and smiles. It was different from the ones sent before though, almost defeated in a way.

“Oh, like a date?”

A _date_ ? Is that what Louis saw it as? Is that what it _was?_ Clementines eyes widen in realization.

“Oh. No- of course not.” She laughs awkwardly. _I’m such a dumbass._ She mentally facepalms.

Violet sends her a questioning expression, one of her eyebrows raising in question before laughing. “ _Oh my god._ Did you really agree to a date, without realizing-” Her body language still tense, but her tone returns to the playful one she had previously.

Clementine feels her cheeks get warm for what seemed like the nth time this day alone. She grimaces, half because of her own stupidity and the rest being the awkward tension that now lingered in the air around them.

“Well, I guess so.” A smile rests on her face, she’s got a date with what seems to be a fairly cute boy and it’s only her second day at this school.

Violet only glares at her, and rolls her eyes, “Let’s just go back inside.” she murmured, leading them back in the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also disclaimer neither of us have ever taken calculus so that one (1) sentence is from a few minutes of research from google lmao.
> 
> ps. this isnt a clouis fic i promise just wait and the heterosexuality will vanish


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the stoner squad (minus louis and marlon) have a beach day

 

Louis was stood with his classic wide grin, wearing a simple, pale blue long-sleeved button up shirt with the first one or two buttons undone,tucked into olive khakis, with brown boots. He looked stylish,not too formal and not too casual. His dark dreads were pulled back into a ponytail.

“Helloo Clementine!” Louis sung, looking her up and down briefly, “You look amazing!”

“Hey.” She smiled, looking down at her baggy tee tucked into high-waisted mom jeans, feeling somewhat under-dressed in comparison. “Thanks. You look nice.”

The two stand in silence. Louis shifts his weight on his legs, “Soo. To the Cheesecake Factory?” He grinned

Clementine wondered how the fuck could someone smile so much. Louis had one of those charming smiles that you couldn’t help but return.

 

They were sat in a booth near the window, the early afternoon sun beamed outside as Clem peered outside of it.

“So,” Louis said between mouthfuls of his order, ”What do you think of _the Stoner squad?_ ”

Clementine hummed thoughtfully. They generally seemed like an alright group of people, she expected worse from the stoner kids. She had hung out with them at lunches and breaks almost all week.

“They’re cool. I don’t know everyone very well yet, though.” She probably knew Brody, Louis, and Sophie the most out of the group, due to being in classes with them.

Despite Violet’s tutoring, they rarely spoke in math, Clementine sometimes casting the occasional polite smile when she caught her eye, to which the girl would nod in response to and turn back to their teacher.

“Vi’s a bit.. Weird when it comes to new people. I love her to death, but she isn’t the most.. Uhm” Louis trailed off, trying to think of the right word.

“Enthusiastic?” Clementine offered.

“Yeah, she’s not the most enthusiastic or friendly individual, unlike myself.” He winked, grinning.

Clementine rolled her eyes, but found herself smiling. “I think she’s nice.”

He only nods, taking another bite of the chicken piccata he’d ordered. “That’s good, I’m used to having to ask people to give her a chance. She’s sweet, if you get under that rough exterior she has got going on.”

Clementine only smiles, taking a sip of her hot chocolate that she’d been ignoring for so long that it could barely be called as such; “Really? I’m surprised she agreed to tutoring, then.”

“We all were. Maybe she thinks you’re as pretty as I think you are.” He jests.

She let her eyebrows shoot up in shock, feeling her face get warmer at the compliment. “No, that’s not it. I don’t know what it is about her, I just really enjoy her company.” She lets her facial expression soften, letting her lips melt into a smile.

It was Louis’ turn to let his eyebrow shoot up in a questioning expression, not missing the way she dodged his compliment. He begins nodding again, his eyes dart around them to find something that could change the subject.  

“Your drink must be cold.” His gaze falls on the waitress that was picking up dishes from the table next to theirs, and whistles to get her attention. “Sorry to bother, ma’am. Can we get some more hot chocolate?”

The woman smiles and nods past all the dishes that were piling up in her arms, before rushing back to the kitchen.

Clementine only watches the scene unfold, slightly feeling bad for interrupting the waitress that was clearly already busy. “You didn’t have to do that. Doesn’t it cost to get hot chocolate refills?”

“Relax, Clem. Let me be a gentleman and pay.”

She begrudgingly gave in, grunting. She rolled her eyes, “Fine.”

The two got out of Louis’ Ferrari, as he walked Clementine to her doorstep.

He turns to face her, as she does the same.

“Thanks for today. It was fun. I’m glad I’m actually making friends at this school.”

She noticed Louis’ slight wince at the mention of ‘friends’, but his face quickly contorted into his usual goofy expression, “It’s my pleasure, Clementine.”

She smiled at him, her eyes crinkling. He was sweet. The two stood there for a few seconds, Louis nervously shifting his weight, unsure of what to do. Clementine reached out her hand in a fist, for a fist bump. Louis eyed her strangely.

She chuckled nervously, “See ya Monday?” She averted her eyes, staring at the ground as the boy bumped her fist in return, grinning and rolling his eyes.

Clementine felt her face getting hot, quickly spinning on her heel and twisting the handle to her front door. Her heart sank as she realized it was locked. She fumbled for her keys, accidentally dropping them. Louis chuckled as he watched her flail aimlessly. He squatted down with her, picking up the keys, Clem accidentally reaching for his hand currently on top of the keys.

She glances up from the ground, acutely aware how close their faces were. She could probably count the boy’s freckles, they were that close. “I. uh, thanks.” She’s looking down at the keys she was now being handed, and stands back up on her feet. She offers the boy a small smile before turning around to her door and unlocking it. Not taking time at all to turn back around. “Drive safe!” is all she managed to stutter out, closing the front door behind her.

Once she was inside she felt herself let out a long exhale. She leaned her back against the door, slowly sliding down to the floor. She could hear running down stairs as AJ appeared in front of her.

“Sooo, how was your _date?”_ He wiggled his eyebrows, grinning slyly _,_ “And.. why are you on the floor? _”_

Clementine whipped her head up, eyes darting to the source, “Oh, it was fine.” She offers him a smile, leaning her weight on her forearms in order to lift herself off from the floor.

Her brother fixates on her with a perplexed expression, still waiting on her to elaborate. “Fine, _how?_ Did you guys like, _kiss_?”

Clementine’s eyes shot open at the accusation, gawking at him, “AJ!” Her face burns beetroot red, the boy giggles at Clementine’s embarrassment. “ _No!”_

His eyebrows are upturned with confusion written on his face. “Well, _why not?_ Is that not what you do on dates?” He inquired, genuinely wondering. “Did he have stinky breath?”

“Uh, no. that’s just not what you do on _first_ _dates_. _”_ Clementine tries to explain, slightly dragging out the word ‘date’, in the process.

“Oh, so you’re going on a second one.”

Her eyebrows furrow at him a bit, “Well, I don’t know that yet.” She’s bending a bit further down now, so they’re more equal in height.

“But why? You said he’s nice! And when I asked if he was ugly you said no!”

Her smile softens, finding his genuine curiosity adorable. “He didn’t ask me on another, one of us has to ask the other again.”

His eyebrows stay turned up for a moment before practically shooting up to his hairline, and smiling widely. “Ask him, then!” He exclaims, flailing his arms out frantically.

“Maybe, Goofball. I’ll think about it.” She smiled, reaching her hands out and tickling him. He squealed, swatting at Clementine’s arms. She stopped as she felt vibrating in her pocket as her phone rang.

She looked on the screen to see Brody’s name and icon, she taps accept and holds it to her ear.

“Heya Clem!” Brody said, Clementine could practically hear the smile in her voice.

“Hey, What’s up?” Clementine raised an eyebrow, AJ watched as she spoke on the phone.

“You comin’ tonight?” She asks. Clementine could hear someone rustling around in the background of the call, almost making it hard for her to hear the question.

Her smile returns, just now remembering the plans she’d been invited to the other day,  “Oh, yeah! When should I expect you to be here?”

AJ’s now leaning over her shoulder a bit, trying to get into a good position to eavesdrop. Clementine grabs his face and pushes him away, his little arms flailing and swatting the air.

“You’re leaving _again_ , Clem?!” He whines, muffled behind her hand and uses what little strength he has to push it away.

“AJ, I’m on the phone.” She turns away a bit, releasing the boy as he moves towards her again and wraps his arms around her to pry the phone out of her grasp.

“I’m serious, Alvie. Give me a minute. We can play in a second.”

“Clem, ya there?” Brody’s voice grabs her attention again, “I asked if five was alright.” She repeats, correctly assuming she wasn’t previously heard.

“Mm, Yup! See you then!” Clementine blurted before hanging up.

“Who was that?” AJ inquired, giving up trying to take the phone from her, now that she put it back in her pocket. His wide eyes peered at the girl curiously.

“A girl called Brody I’m friends with. We’re gonna have a ‘Girls night’.” She puts air quotations around the words, a smile still present on her lips.

Clementine kicked off her shoes as AJ seemed to consider this for a second, before nodding and running back up the stairs.

Clementine giggled at the boy’s antics, before padding up the stairs, tossing her phone onto her bed and walking into the bathroom. She removed her clothes and stepped into the shower, turning the water on hot, almost scalding.

She sighed as she leaned her head back, the water cascading down her back and calves. Her skin burning red slightly from the practically scorching water. She sighed as she watched the rainfall of hot water envelop her.

The date was good, really. Louis was kind to her and insisted on paying for their food. Which Clementine hated, she didn’t like being paid for, it made her feel guilty. But he insisted, to which Clementine eventually rolled her eyes and eventually gave in, letting him pay. At least they had their stubbornness in common. He talked a lot, not about anything of substance, really, but Clementine didn’t mind listening.

Louis was nice. He wasn’t a snotty, rich fuckboy, at the very least. Clementine thought. It was obvious he was attractive, between the freckles and the wild dreads. He definitely was a lot, with his bubbliness and extravagance. Clementine was definitely _not_ those things. But if he _were_ to ask her on another date, she couldn’t confidently say that she’d deny it. _How does that saying go? Opposites attract?_ Maybe their friendship could develop into something more. Clementine entertained the idea, she figured she’d let things be and see where things would go from here.

 

The sun was just beginning to dip down below the horizon, warm ambers painting the sky. Brody parked her Volkswagen near a beach, probably fifteen minutes away from Clem’s house. Her car was much better looked after than Violet’s pickup, with the paint literally chipping off.

The girls got out of the van one by one, Violet stretching as she yawned and smacked her gum. Clementine averted her eyes as pale ones caught her own staring. She didn’t see the girl’s smirk. Brody walked around to the back of the van to grab the few blankets they brought.

The area they’d chosen was exempt of activity, everyone leaving as they’d arrive or long gone already. It was mostly quiet, the loud orchestra of the ocean waves crashing against the shore was deafening.

“This is nice. Weirdly serene.” Clementine hummed, the sound of sand crunching under her shoes emanating through her ears. She could taste the salt in the fresh ocean air on her tongue.

They were sat side by side only a few feet away from the ocean. “Yeah, I love coming out here. Expect to be dragged out here with us at least twice a month!” Brody’s voice sings from beside her, emitting chuckles from the girls.

“It’d be funny if she was joking.” Violet’s voice murmured from Clementine’s left, rolling her eyes. Clementine met her gaze, before chuckling softly. Violet’s expression seemed to soften slightly as Clementine noticed her.

“You can pretend you don’t but I-” Sophie chirps in, leaning forward to look at her. Her long hair falls into her face at the sudden movement and gestures to herself. “-know that you love _us_ , and this beach.”

Violet breaks Clementine’s gaze to glance at Sophie, not letting her expression falter and smirks. “In your dreams, _princess_.”  her voice is smooth as butter. The intonation of the words linger in Clem’s mind. She realized she’s staring, diverting her attention to Sophie once again.

“Honestly, what’d y’all be doing if you weren’t here?” Brody chimes, glaring playfully at the blonde, expecting to get no reply.

“Probably making my sim fuck the whole neighborhood.” She says nonchalantly, no hesitation.

“Ok, we get it you’re into voyeurism. Next?” Sophie rolls her eyes. Clementine snorts, Brody smirking at the blonde.

Violet glares at the accusation, before smirking. “You and Brody’d be having phone sex or something, and Clem would have Louis’ tongue down her throat.” She hums, her gum popping as she blew a bubble. The smirk on her face only widening at the mortified expressions of the girls.

There was a beat of uncomfortable silence, before Sophie spoke up, “Dude..you didn’t have to do us like that.”

“ _C’mon,_ ” Clementine whined, throwing her arms out in slight irritation. “We’ve been on ONE date!”

Sophie and Brody turned to her almost in sync, both of their eyes widening comically wide.

“Wait, you and Louis went on a _date_?” Their own embarrassment seemingly forgotten and replaced with shock.  Clementine’s mouth opened and closed, internally face-palming at her own words.

Brody lets her jaw shut after noticing the way the girl’s face only darkened. “Disappointing, No offense Clem, but you gave me carpet muncher vibes.” Clementine raises her eyebrows in confusion.

“Y’know, todger dodger.” Brody says slowly, “Todger meaning dick.”

“Kitty assassin,” Sophie chirps in, nodding thoughtfully.

Clementine’s expression doesn’t change as the two girls glance over her shoulder to meet Violet’s gaze. She looks over to the blonde, silently imploring for an explanation.

Noticing Clementine’s blank expression and the curious look the two girls were sending her, Violet sighed, frustrated, “Dyke. They mean dyke.” She says flatly.

Brody and Sophie smiled and nodded in unison.

“You guys can just say lesbian you know. You can't keep making me use my d-word card to say it for you. It’s exhausting”

Clementine lets her shoulders relax, the blush still spread across her face. “Oh well..I’m not a, d-, you know, _kitty assassin._ ” she murmured, embarrassed.

Violet laughs, throwing her head back, the corners of her eyes crinkling. “Obviously not, nobody would ever call themselves a kitty assassin.”

“Bold of you to assume I don't already refer to myself as that. Brody can vouch for me.” Sophie quips, receiving a shove from Brody.

 

The girls found themselves falling into a comfortable silence after a while. Clementine felt herself zone out slightly, feeling the cold breeze from the ocean embrace her bare arms crossed on top of her knees. Goosebumps raised on her skin, as the ocean lapped at the shore. She could feel the fine grains of soft sand between her fingers, leaving imprints on her palms.

The sun was completely behind the horizon now, the only light being shined down coming from the thin horned moon. Stars spotted the cyaneous backdrop of the sky, like fairy lights.

Sophie clears her throat in an attempt to break the silence and stands up abruptly, stretching her legs. She begins humming a tune that Clementine doesn’t recognize as she slips her flip-flops off, lifting the cyan kaftan above her shoulders and throws it to the side, stripping to her underwear. Clementine almost gawks at the sudden flashing. Sophie’s built like those tall, skinny supermodels, but her stomach is toned and her bone structure is prominent. Her legs seemed to go on for days. Her long bright hair fell perfectly over her shoulders, a few messy tiny braids in her hair.

She’s about to ask what she was doing before hearing a deep groan from the other side of her, “We’re still awake. Please don’t do it on the beach.” Violet’s voices comes from beside her, lifting up so she’s leaning all her weight on her elbows.

Sophie knits her eyebrows, rolling her eyes and turns around to begin running towards the ocean.

“I’m simply going for a swim!”

Clementine finds herself sitting up, staring at the girl as she submerged herself in the water. She backs deeper into the water and finally turns to smirk at the group before immersing her entire head under the surface. She reemerges, flicking her, now sopping wet, hair out of her face. The freckles dusting her face similar to the stars beginning to shine in the dark night sky above them.

She somehow always looked stunning. It was weird, she’d see Lou and think, _he’s cute,_ then she’d see Sophie and not be able to stop her mind from wandering places. She couldn’t put her finger on what it was, but the air on her hit her skin harder in that moment and made it tingle.

Before she can think to say anything else, Brody’s voice sounds, “Soph! You’re gonna get sick!” Clementine didn’t even notice her get up, but she was now standing and beginning to walk closer to Sophie’s place in the water. Her face was contorted into a grimace, her hands resting on her hips.

There’s no response, Sophie ignores the girl now in front of her and swims to the side so she could see Violet and Clementine back on the towels and waves. Her toothy grin is almost captivating, Clementine feels as though she's in a trance watching the girl goof around.

Clementine begins to lift her arm in an attempt to wave back but feels a cold hand grab her arm and pull it back down. She turns when she hears Vi’s voice from beside her. “Close your mouth or you’ll catch flies.” Clementine felt her face burn. Shit.

It was hard to tell from behind, but it looks as if Brody was crossing her arms.

“Soph,” She says sternly, still frozen in her position. Sophie turns her head slowly towards Brody as she puts her hand back down and smiles. She uses her hand to push the few strands that were still obscuring her vision and goes back under just as slowly. Her blue eyes seemed to shine with mischief in the twilight of the night.

Sophie comes back up from the water with her cheeks puffed out before throwing her head back and shoots the water out of her mouth, almost choking as she laughs at the girls’ expression. Brody releases an audible groan before turning around and beginning to walk back towards the towels.

Clementine’s eyes furrow at how upset Brody seemed. Sophie seemed to notice as well, as she begins to swim closer to the shore and steps out from the water. Water cascaded from the lengths of her hair down past her collar bones and body. Her skin glistened with sea water. She gestures towards her and Vi, putting her finger over her lips as if to tell them to not give away her position.

Not having time to be confused Clementine notices as Sophie begins to stretch, bending her leg behind her and grabbing it with her left hand. She doesn’t bother to do the same with her other leg though, and begins sprinting towards the three of them. Her calf muscles flexed as she ran, her skin shiny from the ocean, as her long legs took long strides. She kicked up sand as she ran at full force.

Brody’s shriek pierced through their ears as Sophie’s arms wrap around her abdomen, lifting her up slightly, laughing in the process.

“This is like, a free Pornhub subscription.” Violet’s laughing beside her as the Brody breaks out of the taller girl’s grip and huffs, turning and walking even further past the group.

“Soph- for fuck’s sake, my clothes are soaking.” She hissed, “I’m going to the van, do _not_ follow me.” She turns, only directing it towards Sophie specifically.

The three watch as she walks away, Sophie and Violet smirking in her direction. She stays still and glances down at the other two and the sounds of a door slamming can be heard.

“Well ladies, I hate to break up this party but I believe that’s my cue to follow her.” Her smile is still bright, as she grabs her previously discarded clothes and follows in the direction that the brunette went.

 

Violet sighed, drawing her knees in to her chest, arms folded across them, tilting her head up to stare into the now atrous sky. It was now darker, the faint moonlight shimmered on the sand and on the surface of the sea, the reflection of the moon dancing and distorting. The moon illuminated the other girl, her porcelain skin, her pale blonde hair muted by the dark.

Clementine could see the blanket of stars reflected in glassy celadon eyes. Her pouty lips were parted slightly, ever so slightly upturned. Her tongue shot out as she licked her lips. She looked amicable, which didn’t seem to be in-character for the girl in question.

“I can feel you staring.” Violet’s demure voice broke the comfortable silence between them, not looking away from the sky.

Clementine didn’t say anything, instead following her gaze. Before she could stop herself, “What’re you thinking about?” she whispered under her breath. The words lingered in the air, floating in the quiet ambiance of the dark.  She felt that if she spoke too loud, she would shatter the atmosphere they’d built, it felt like they were on a plain where only the sand, stars, and they remained.

Violet glanced down at Clementine for a second, raising an eyebrow questioningly, but upon meeting her gaze she sighed, looking back up at the sky.

“The stars.” She says simply. She leaned back, lying down. It was getting colder now, the cool air hitting their skin and she reaches over to grab the blanket that Brody had left behind and draped it over herself. Clementine followed suit, staring up into the vast night sky.

Clementine only hummed, looking around at the specs that painted throughout the sky. She let her eyes wander, not entirely sure what she was searching for. It was painfully quiet, the loudest sound simply being their own breathing, in rhythm with the splashing of the waves on the beach.

She knitted her brows together, seeing nothing but random spots of light. She tries to picture constellations, but she doesn’t know where to even begin. Her eyebrows cast upwards _When was the last time that she learned about constellations, first grade?_ She huffs in slight frustration.

“You’re supposed to connect them, right? Like dots?” Her voice comes out in a whisper, afraid that anything louder would disturb the girl beside her.

The silence that followed was almost deafening, it’s almost as if she wasn’t heard. She’s about to drop the topic when she hears shuffling at her side and turns to see Violet now facing her, hair fallen on her face haphazardly. She only hums, “Mhm.” Choosing not to elaborate, the blonde turns away again to draw her attention back to the sky.

She’s about to drop it, before the same soft voice surprises her. “There’s like 88 ‘ _official’_ constellations, which are cool. I like just tracing my own things sometimes, though.” Violet lifts her arms to make air quotations around the word official. Clementine chooses to look back up to the sky, doing her best to remember the names of those she knew.

She squints her eyes this time, doing her best to think of the names. They were all strange, that’s for sure. She vividly remembers constantly confusing the names of the stars with the names of the Greek gods. _What can she say? Elementary school was rough._ Each astronomy sign has a matching constellation, she just couldn’t tell which went where for the life of her.

_Ursula? No. That’s the Little Mermaid._

_Hm, Athena? No, she’s in her French class._

“I might’ve just made that sound too complicated, would you like me to explain?” Her voice seeps through once again upon seeing the utter confusion painted across Clementine’s features. “Well, you know Big Dipper at least?”

Clementine’s eyes shot open in realization.

 _“Oooh,_ like off that cartoon show?” She suggests, eyes growing a little wider at her revelation.

Violet lets a breathy laugh fall from her lips, “No, the big spoon.” She reaches her hand up to try point out the general area, glancing over to make sure it’s in Clementine’s line of vision and continues explaining.

“It’s one of the more popular ones because it’s easy to catch, it’s not _one_ technically, just an interesting pattern inside of another constellation.” The words fall out of her mouth effortlessly, seemingly not taking any time to think about how to elaborate it any simpler.

Clementine listened tentatively, lingering on every word she said. She genuinely couldn’t care less about astronomy, or astrology, whatever the fuck it was. But for some reason the way Violet’s eyes seemed to shimmer with excitement, the way her lips stayed upturned in a small smile and the intonation of her voice as she spoke about astrology made Clementine want to learn about it too, “Really?”

“Mhm, the actual constellation is called the Ursa Major or as nerds like to refer to it as _‘The Great Bear_.’” Her voice is smooth, speaking slower now as if the words would get lost throughout the sentence.

Clementine’s eyes were still squinting up at the sky, trying to find the shape of ‘ _a big spoon’_ but to no avail. A sigh falls from her lips, her eyes darting in every direction above her.

“You don’t have to strain yourself, princess.” She hears Violet chuckle from beside her afterwards, before once again hearing shuffling. Clementine’s eyes snap to her at the use of the nickname.

She lifts up from her lying position and looks back down at Clementine, gesturing for her to do the same. Clementine follows her movement and shifts her attention from the sky to the girl beside her. Her hair was slightly ruffled from laying down, Clementine wanted to run her fingers through it and smooth it out. She wondered if it’s just as soft as it looked.

She’s still shuffling, scooting so their legs are only an inch from touching. Violet turns to make sure she has her attention and smiles when she already does. Lifting her left arm again to trace out an outline in the stars. Clementine breaks her sight away from the girl next to her to the shapes her fingers are trying to make out.

Her hand movements are slower now, previously noticing how hard of a time Clementine was having. She moved her fingers around to point out where the curves of the dipper were placed, doing this repeatedly waiting for some indication that the other could see. When this went on for minutes with nothing, Violet turns to her and sees Clementine’s focused eyes still glancing up. Her face contorted into a scowl.

The corners of Violet’s lips curl into a smile at the girl’s attempt and brings her hand back down, to which the girl’s eyes follow. Without saying anything additional, she reaches for Clementine’s hand and takes it in her own when she finally is able to find it. She moves her sight back to the sky and begins trying to move the other girl’s fingers in the same motion.

Clementine looks down at their hands, slightly surprised at the contact, though not at all opposed to it. She feels warm as she thinks how the girl’s hands were surprisingly softer than she had imagined.

“See? This part, is like the the curve of the dipper.” She proceeds to move her hand in a half-circular motion, still moving just as slowly as before. When she hears Clementine hum in acknowledge she lets her movement continue. She begins making the lower part of the spoon, leaning a little to her right so that she could see from Clementine’s perspective. Clementine could feel warmth radiating from the other girl, they were now sat with their sides touching, shoulder to shoulder.

She smelled like vanilla and faintly of salt from the sea.

“I think I see it,” She whispers, turning so her breath hits Violet’s jawline. Violet’s eyes quickly snap to Clementine’s face, her brows furrowed slightly. She bit her lip, her eyes gazing into Clementine’s darker ones. She can’t help but smirk at the lost expression that was still permanently displayed across her features.

There was a moment of them just smiling, before they both jumped at the sound of a loud honk in the distance, Violet quickly retracting her hand in surprise. Clementine frowned slightly, missing the blonde’s delicate fingers clasped around her own.

“Jesus fuck.” Violet cussed, smiling as Clementine giggled. She groaned, before smirking at Clementine, “I guess we’ll have to resume this..some other time.” She stood up, offering her hand for Clementine to stand.

 

The two of them collected all of the leftover blankets and discarded shoes and made their way back to the parking lot. It was empty now, the only car in sight being Brody’s Volkswagen that was parked up front.

The windows were misty, making it hard for anyone out to view the inside.Violet rolled her eyes, groaning loudly, knocking aggressively on the window of the back door to get the attention of the girls inside.

Clementine could hear muttered cursing before Sophie’s voice called from inside, “One sec.”

Clementine heard movement and slight shuffling, Brody and Sophie’s hushed voices giggling and whispering inaudibly, “Okay, y’all can get in.”

Violet opened the passenger’s side door, gesturing for Clem to get in, before a wall of smoke practically blasts them in the face. Clementine spluttered, swatting at the air, Violet snorted at the girl.

“Hey y’all,” Brody hummed, a joint in between her pointer and thumb, taking a hit before passing it to Sophie.

The two were visibly disheveled in the dim lighting of the car, some strands of Brody’s hair stuck to the back of her neck. Both of the girl’s shoulders were exposed, wearing only tank tops and a towel draped over them to cover up their legs. Clementine raised a brow as she wondered why they were under a towel, but let thought drift to the back of her mind, not taking much notice.

“Jesus Christ, You guys smoke weed like it’s a personality trait.” Clementine rolled her eyes, grinning as Sophie blew her a raspberry and flipped her off, “Seriously, do you guys have _jobs?_ ” She climbs into the passenger seat when most of the smoke is aired away from her face and looks back.

“Nope.” Brody giggled and grinned goofily, grabbing the joint back from Sophie.

Violet opens the door on the drivers side, a grimace still on her face as she steps in and sighs as she closes the door. “You could’ve at least warned me that I’d be driving everyone home.”

The other two just continue giggling from behind her. Clementine can’t help but smirk as Violet lets out another dramatic moan.

“Damn Vi, you’re so tense.” Brody comments as the engine starts, only to receive Violet lifting her right hand back to flip the two off. Sophie only smirks, laughing again.

As Violet begins to pull out of the parking lot Sophie shifts herself closer so her chin is leaning on the driver’s seat and says lowly,  “We can pull over if you want.” twirling a short strand of blonde hair around her finger.

Clementine watched the interaction, looking back at Sophie, perplexed, “But the tank’s full-”

Sophie only smirks and turns to face her, slowly raising her hand to the girl’s cheek, “You are so cute..” before moving her face closer to Clem’s, almost a breath away “Not for _gas,_ baby girl.”

Clementine felt herself hold her breath, staring into half-lidded blue eyes. _Is this how she dies? A tall hot hippie girl flirting with her and caressing her cheek? Highly possible._

Noticing the scene in her peripheral vision, Violet coughs. “Just put your fucking seat belt on.” She mutters, doing her best to keep her annoyance contained as much as possible.

Sophie lets her hand drop from Clementine’s cheek and turns to smile at Violet before falling back in the seat behind them. The laughter begins again quickly when she returns back, clicking her seat belt on.

“Thanks for the free astronomy lesson back there.” Clementine smiled, looking at the girl’s side profile as she drove onto the quiet streets, the engine humming quietly. The other girl glanced at her, snorting, before looking back onto the road, a small smirk on her face.

She hums in response. “Don’t mention it, princess.” She smirked mischievously, glancing at Clementine again for a moment before diverting her eyes back to the road.

Clementine felt her lips tug into a small smile, her cheeks burning. She lets her mind wander for a few minutes, the silence in the car is extremely prominent but not awkward in any way. Violet glances at the rear view mirror, seeing the two girls in the back. A small smile forms on her rosy lips, her eyes flitting back to the road.

A smile tugged on the corners of her lips as she watched the girl, “You got over that rather quickly?” It comes out as more of a question rather than an observation.

Violet’s smile only relaxes at the sound of her voice, “It is kind of my fault. I know better than to leave them alone when one of them is our designated driver.” She shrugs, turning down an even quieter street filled with suburban-looking houses.

Clementine nods slowly, letting an amused chuckle fall from her lips. “This happens a lot?” She decides on asking, taking the time to glance at the girls in the backseat. She notices that Brody is fast asleep on Sophie’s shoulder. They’re covered in a blanket and curled into one another. They’re both breathing softly with luckily, their blunt put out. She can’t help but smile before turning back to face Violet.

“If by _this_ you mean escaping the group to fuck like rabbits? Yes.” She scoffs at her own joke  

“Kinda got that vibe, since tutoring on Tuesday.” Clementine snorted, “How long have they been dating?”

Violet lets out a genuine, hearty laugh, throwing her head back momentarily before looking at Clem, flicking hair out of her face. It was a good thing there were no cars on the road, they’d definitely be dead by now, what with how much she didn’t pay attention to the road.

_“Dating?”_

“Uh.. Are they not…. _gay?”_

“Oh, no. They totally are. Brody’s bi, Sophie’s pan.” She looked back at the road.

Clementine looked pensive at the girl, furrowing her brows in thought. There was a moment of silence before she spoke up again.

“They’re not dating.”  Violet clarified.

“ _Oooh._ ” Clementine hummed thoughtfully, before remembering Brody ditching them on Tuesday, their disheveled appearances in the backseat, “But didn’t they just-”

“It’s more like a friends with benefits thing, except they won’t admit there’s feelings there. It’s more interesting than anything Netflix could release.” She licks her lips, tucking some hair behind her ear, revealing a honey colored feather, with dark brown streaks.  

They pull up to a house similar in style to Louis’, the driveway is much smaller and the garage already open and a shining from a door on the inside. All other rooms in the house dark omitting an enormous window, revealing a girl with short bright auburn hair, tailored into a pixie cut sitting on a sofa inside. Her head moves to look out the window from the couch when they’re pulling up.

Her face contorts into a grimace upon seeing Brody’s van, turning back around when Violet pulls into the garage.

“Get out, gays.” She practically shouts, turning around to the two in the back.

Sophie stirs, Brody’s eyes fluttering open, “Hmm?” Brody hums, snuggling closer to Sophie, shutting her eyes again. The redhead also opens her eyes, glancing around slightly dazed at her surroundings and tightening her arms around Brody, nuzzling her face in the girl’s messy hair.

Violet groans, and reaches her arms out to flick Brody on the forehead. “Can Brody crash at yours? I don’t feel like driving around the city.” Brody flinches at the contact, causing her head to jerk into Sophie’s chin.

“ _Fuck.”_  Sophie whined, the two girls separating on impact. Brody’s eyebrows immediately furrow at the sound and begins apologizing profusely to the girl beside her, nursing her chin. Sophie’s face relaxes into a smile at the contact, reaching her arm that was around Brody’s waist and holds her face in her hands. She cuts off her nth apology by connecting their lips in a chaste kiss. Clementine found herself smiling at the interaction through the mirror.

“ _Oh my god,_ get the fuck out. I’ll return the van tomorrow.” Violet spins back around her seat, pressing the button to unlock the doors.

The two don’t seem phased, as there’s only laughter and a lot of shuffling of clothing coming from the backseat, as they haphazardly re-dress, before they eventually open the door and stumble out, clinging onto each other for balance.

As they walk up to Sophie’s doorstep, Sophie makes a peace sign over her shoulder, sticking her tongue out between the ‘v’.

Violet rolls her eyes, flipping her off in response, but Clementine could see the ghost of a smirk on her chapped lips.

A silence fell over them, Clementine looked at the girl as they sat in the motionless van. Her eyes looked tired, but she had a smile on her face.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and feedback are ALWAYS appreciated!


End file.
